24. Mae: Grandpa’s Secret Revealed

Mae – Grandpa's Secret Revealed

Chapter twenty-four

"Oh, thank goodness." I hear the generator kick in and see our house illuminated again.

But then there are several knocks on the door.

When I open it, I see four sets of eyeballs glaring back at me from the cold.

"I'm so sorry. We were just in the middle of dinner when the power went out. Then, we saw yours turn back on…" Dean explains.

"Of course. Come on in. The fireplace is going. Why don't you warm yourself up over there?"

I watch particularly closely as Anna, his ex, passes me.

"I'm so sorry," he says again, rolling his eyes for only Mae to see.

"It's fine. I'm happy to help."

"I know. But it's weird that she's here. And that she's under your roof," he whispers.

"Don't worry. It's okay. Come on, you need to dry off, too." I lightly push him by the small of the back.

"Well, my goodness. We seem to have a lot of visitors," Grandpa Bob says after walking down the hall.

"Sorry about that, Bob. We don't have a generator like you guys."

"No need to apologize. The more the merrier."

"Bob and Mina, this is Anna," Dean introduces.

"I'm Dylan's mom." She doesn't waste a beat before explaining.

"Ah," they both say, after shaking her hand.

"So, what brings you here? I thought you were pretty absent," Grandpa asks, after sitting down on his recliner.

"Grandpa!"

"What?"

"No, it's okay," Anna responds. "That's true. But Dylan is actually going to come down to Mexico and spend a little time there with me and my boyfriend."

I shoot Dean a glance, but he just shrugs. That does not sound like a good idea at all to me, and I'd like to know what he's thinking by agreeing to such a thing.

But I don't dare confront either of them in front of the kids, so I keep my mouth shut and instead get the fixings for them to make s'mores. I make sure everything is peanut-free before handing them over.

"Hey, Dylan," Mina says shyly. I completely forgot about their little falling out.

"Hi, Mina."

After those introductions, they seem to go back to where they were before Dylan kind of freaked out, and they're back to acting like the best of friends. Mina even picks on him for burning his marshmallow and then struggling to get it off the stick. Dylan responds by laughing along.

"Well, they seem better," Dean says quietly to me in the kitchen, while I'm making cocktails for the adults.

"They sure do. I'm glad. I could tell Mina missed him."

"Oh, and he missed her, too. Trust me."

"I know. I saw the drawings."

He sucks air in between his teeth but then laughs. "That's right. Thanks for being cool about that."

"I wouldn't have embarrassed him."

"I know. I appreciate that," Dean tells me.

"What are we talking about over here?" Anna inserts her way into the conversation.

"Nothing. I'm just making some hot toddies. Before I can offer, Anna tells me to fix her one. What a lovely woman.

"So, were you discussing the condo situation?" she continues.

I feel my blood start to boil. Why does she know about that?

"Well, it really isn't an issue anymore. Right, Dean?"

Anna jumps in again. "We were just talking about how ironic it is that Dean seems all too willing to dump his goals or projects when a woman is involved."

"What?"

Dean looks at me cautiously. "When we were kids, she convinced me not to finish demolishing her tree house."

"And that relates to this how?"

He opens his mouth but shuts it almost as quickly.

"Well, he was all ready to tear both houses down and build condos until your beautiful hazel eyes came around and convinced him otherwise." Anna seems to take sincere delight in making herself a source of conflict.

"His decision not to go ahead with that had nothing to do with me. Dean, tell her."

He takes a large sip of the drink I had just made for him. "Not entirely, no."

"See. It was mostly my grandfather."

"What is she talking about?" Anna asks him.

"If you feel you must know more of our business, Grandpa Bob served in the military, like my dad. It's his wish to live here until he dies. And he was recently diagnosed with heart failure—"

"I'm sorry. What was that?" I almost drop the glass in my hand as I jump out of my chair.

"Oh, shoot." Looking toward Bob I'm distraught that I betrayed his trust. "I'm so sorry, Bob. It just slipped out."

"No, don't apologize. I never should've asked you to keep that from her in the first place."

"Grandpa!" I stomp over to him.

"What's with all of the commotion?" Bob asks.

"Mina, go to your room."

"But, Mom—"

"Wilhelmina!"

"Okay, okay. I'm going."

Coral takes my lead and ushers Dylan into another area of the house. She gives the evil eye and motions to Anna who reluctantly takes the hint and follows Dylan.

With all the rest out of earshot, I go off.

"Why is it that I'm just hearing about your heart condition now…and from Dean, who isn't even a member of this family?"

He takes a deep breath in and out. "I didn't want to worry you or add to your stress, Mae."

"What if that's what I said after my parents died? That I didn't want to add any complications to your life. So, instead—I would've just ended up in a foster home. Would you have liked that?"

"Of course not."

"Exactly. This is part of the nonverbal agreement you and I made years ago. You're here for me, and I'm here for you. You should have told me about this."

"I'm sorry, I think part of it was that it would feel all too real after you found out."

"Oh, Grandpa," I bend down and put my hands on his. "I'm so sorry. What's the prognosis?"

"They aren't entirely sure. It could be months or longer."

"Well, what can we do to prolong the time that you do have?"

"I'm not sure. But I also don't want to know."

"What?"

"If this is the time I'm meant to go, I want to go. It's the universe's way."

"But no. Grandpa—I can't. I can't imagine living without you."

"Well, you're going to have to, sweetheart. I'm an old man. You had to expect this to happen one day."

"Of course, Grandpa …but in the future. Not now."

"I'm sorry. It looks like it may be now."

I feel a strong hand on my shoulder. When I look up, I see that it's Dean. I grab his hand and squeeze it.

But then I remember that he also kept the secret from me. So, I stand up and confront him. "I thought we were done with you keeping things from me?"

"But this…this wasn't my business to share. If you were going to hear about it, I wanted you to hear it from him. At least, that was my plan."

"Speaking of plans," Anna suddenly returns and barges in to say. "What about this agreement I found on your briefcase?"

She hands it to me, and I see that it's already been signed by Dean. The only missing signatures are for the construction company's representatives.

"What is this?"

"It was from before I agreed to call everything off."

"Well, then why is it dated today?"

"I—" He seems to be lost for words, so I just storm away and slam my bedroom door shut. My head is spinning, and I try to center it by cradling it in my hands.

***

Fortunately, Dean kept his distance from me for the remainder of the night, but when I woke up, I saw him asleep on the couch.

Strands of his salt-and-pepper hair are adorably strewn across his face. Dylan is snuggled under several blankets on the floor.

"I hope it's okay that we stayed the night," Coral says. I hadn't yet seen that she was already in the kitchen. I made some coffee."

"Perfect. Thanks."

"So, Dean told me about your fight last night. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

She raises her eyebrows and cocks her head to the side.

"Fine. I'm just so confused. Do you think he was lying about ditching the condos thing?"

Coral raises her cup to her mouth and blows on the hot beverage in it. "It was my understanding that he decided to find another project to invest his money and time in."

"Really?"

"And other than that document that Anna so sneakily found and produced last night, I don't have any evidence that he went back on that."

"Okay, so what do you make of the contract?"

"I think he signed it earlier that day. And I found it in pieces on the table this morning." She points to a nearby pile.

"Oh. Wait a minute… where's Anna?"

"Dean asked her to leave. So, she slept in her car."

I rush to the window and look to make sure she is okay.

"She's gone."

"But Dylan…"

"I know, Mae. This is so her."

"He's going to be so crushed."

"Unfortunately, this is his mother's typical pattern. She makes promises and then falls through on keeping them."

"How could you do that to your own child?" I ponder how I could possibly hurt Mina in such a way.

"I have no idea. I feel devastated when I even have to say no to a video game or new pair of shoes because money is tight."

"So, we should whip up some breakfast for everyone else to wake up to and get this off our minds for a while," Coral suggests.

As we work, Coral is giving me the side-eye and I finally "stop the presses" and ask her what's on her mind. "Mae," she begins. "This is absolutely none of my business but I really want you to know something." As I prod, she tells me that Dean is "filthy rich," and for me to have no sense of guilt in him losing this property for the development project. I knew he must be relatively wealthy as the primary owner of the company, but filthy rich? I'm going to have to process this info.

After a bit of silence, she changes subjects. "I'm sorry, Mae, I still can't believe you once thought that Dean and I were a couple," she eventually jokes.

"Well, I didn't know. I hardly knew him at the time. What would you think if some random woman showed up at your new neighbor's house?"

"I guess. But as you can see, I'm hardly his type."

"What do you mean?"

"He likes the pretty girls—like you and Anna."

"Coral! You are beautiful. Don't be ridiculous."

"Well, thank you. But I don't put much effort into my clothes, makeup, hair, and stuff like that."

I stop what I'm doing and make sure she's looking at me. I turn and put my hands on my hips. "Do you ever stop to think that's maybe because your natural beauty is already enough Coral?"

I walk her to the door to look in the mirror. "I rest my case, judge," trips off my lawyerly voice quite easily. She smiles, so I think she got my compliments.

Shortly after, Dylan wakes up and asks where his mom is.

"Oh, buddy," Coral puts her hand on his shoulder.

"…She left, didn't she?"

"Yes."

"Unbelievable," is all he says. He rushes out the door. It's still raining, but I see him wiping at his face with his sleeve, and I guess he doesn't want anyone—especially Mina—to see him crying.

"What's going on?" Dean asks, clearly half-asleep.

"Anna left."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"I'm so sorry," I say.

"How did Dyl take it?"

"He's been outside wiping away tears if that tells you anything."

"I can't believe I thought this time could be different."

I grab his arm. "It isn't your fault. You know that. She said she wanted time with him, and you wanted to give both of them that time to be mother and son."

"I did. She was guilting me about all of this stuff and—"

"It's fine. Dylan will calm down. And at least he knows that you will always be here for him, right?"

"Of course."

I take a big plate of pancakes from Coral and hand it to Dean.

"Eat up. We can go talk to him together after."

"Mae, you'd do that?"

"Sure, if you think it will help."